Behind The Smile
by ChimamireNoBara22
Summary: What happens when a sparring match goes wrong and Ino ends up inside of Naruto's mind? Will she see something that she isn't supposed to? And how will it effect her when she knows the truth? Rated M for abuse and rape.
1. Behind The Smile

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

 **This story takes place after the Pein fight scene and before any other major event happens. There's a brief fight scene in here that, I will tell you now, will be passed over…sorry, not my forte. If you are offended by abuse or rape, I suggest that you not read. It's rated M for a reason. Other than that, enjoy!**

 **Behind The Smile**

Ino looked out across the field at her opponents and smiled. They were so going to win. The opposing side had a pale skinny boy, an easily distracted girl, and an idiot. Piece of cake…speaking of which, "Choji! Stop eating and focus!"

Said Akimichi stuffed the last bite of his desert into his mouth and nodded. Ino sighed and looked to her other teammate. He was looking at the clouds. She sighed again…ok, maybe it would be an even match.

"Hey Ino-pig, you ready to lose?"

"Shut up Forehead! I'm not losing to you. Never have, never will!"

"Bring it on!"

After the usual banter, teams 7 and 10 burst into action.

After half an hour, both teams were sporting injuries that were annoying or painful, but not life threatening. At this point, Choji had been knocked out, as had Sai. Sakura was being kept busy avoiding Shikamaru's shadow binding technique. His plan was to take out the supporting two teammates, then gang up on the powerhouse that was Naruto. The same knuckleheaded idiot that she was currently trying to distract in order to help Shikamaru concentrate on his current target.

Seeing the blonde male glancing to see how his teammate was holding up, Ino took it as her chance. Bringing her hands together, she quickly performed her family's technique. "Mind Transfer Jutsu."

 **…**

Opening her eyes, Ino found something that she was not expecting. Usually when she entered someone's mind, she either saw an image of the person's brain, which she could then touch and gather information from, or she would see a person's mindscape. Now, with a person's mindscape, it changed with each individual. Some had a peaceful setting, their 'quiet place' as they liked to call it. Others had a fantasy playing out in their head about how they want their future to be. Some were sick, twisted individuals whose mindscape consisted of blood and death. All in all, it was supposed to reflect who they are as a person. Ino had expected to open her eyes to a ramen stand or to see the Hokage monument with a certain someone's cheeky grin carved next to the Fifth's face. Instead she opened her eyes to a sewer-like setting. It was dimly lit and the floor was flooded with water.

"Weird," she muttered. She shrugged it off and started walking, trying to find the 'eyes' in order to see how to control his movements. Until she did, his body would remain immobile, staring into space. If she couldn't find that, then she was hoping for something interesting. She never could resist the thought of a secret.

Ino walked out of one of the many winding hallways and into a cavern of sorts. It was a wide open room with impossibly high ceilings. The most intriguing feature was the far wall that looked like an oversized jail cell. It was hard to see anything but blackness beyond the bars. It gave her an uneasy chill down the length of her spine. Just to the left of the ominous cell was a door that looked like, in her experience, one that led to memories.

"Hell yeah, jackpot!" she grinned, quickly making her way over to the door. When she was only a few steps away, the ground seemed to rumble under her feet. It took her a moment to realize that it wasn't that the ground was moving on its own, more like it was vibrating under the menacing growl that came from within the confines of the cell. Ino's eyes widened as she slowly turned her head to look past the bars once more. Instead of pitch blackness, the sight before her made her knees quake. It was a giant fox, a being that she had heard about from veteran shinobi in the village and had seen pictures of in books. Nothing could have prepared her for the sheer magnitude of the creature or the malevolent chakra that it emitted.

" **Human, what are you doing here?"**

Ino fell to her knees at the power that radiated from the deep voice. She opened her mouth to answer, but only a pathetic squeak was released.

" **Hmph, you don't seem to be a threat to the Kit, but you don't seem as though you are meant to be here. Speak human, what is it you want?"**

"Kit?" Well, that was intelligent, Ino berated herself, The Kyuubi is standing right in front of you asking a question that you need to answer _now_ and _that's_ the only thing you can say!?

The giant being almost seemed amused, if something like that was even possible, and indulged the mind-walking kunoichi, **"My host, the Uzumaki gaki."**

Ino nodded slightly and cleared her throat, trying to speak without sounding like she had a toad lodged in her vocal chords, "I'm Yamanaka Ino. I'm one of Naruto's… comrades. We were sparring…and…I ended up here with my family jutsu."

" **A Yamanaka. I haven't seen one of your kind in a few decades. That explains how you are here. But that doesn't answer my question** _ **why?"**_ the fox growled out, making goosebumps appear on the blonde girl's skin.

"I…I got lost. I was trying to find the 'eyes' but when I couldn't I…decided… to go exploring?" Her voice got softer as her sentence went on, ending in an almost question, realizing just how pathetic and intrusive she sounded.

The Kyuubi raised a brow at her, **"You wished to see his memories then."** At her timid nod, the great beast closed its eyes and sighed, **"You may not be ready for what you will see."**

Curiosity overriding fear, Ino looked at the Bijuu, "What do you mean? It's not like there's anything that bad back there. Sure there's you, but however…intimidating you are, that doesn't seem that bad."

The Kyuubi huffed in mild agitation, **"The Kit never did tell anyone. He's a better actor then most would realize,"** he looked her over a moment, **"You may look if you wish, but you will never be able to forget what you see."** The mighty Bijuu turned away from her and laid down, for all the world looking as if he had fallen asleep.

Shaking herself from her stupor, Ino got to her feet and hesitantly made her way to the door. It couldn't be that bad, she thought. Naruto's too upbeat for anything to have really happened to him.

She took the knob in hand and slowly opened it.

In front of her was the image of a brain, the indicator of stored memories. All she had to do was touch it, and the information would flood into her mind. She was originally just going to look for embarrassing habits or memories to hold over the Jinchuuriki later, but the stuff that the Kyuubi said intrigued her. An intrigued Yamanaka was something to be weary of. She focused on painful memories and, once again, it was nothing like what she expected.

 **…**

 _A six year old Naruto sat in his kitchen. The sun was beginning to set outside as he tentatively and carefully lit the tea candle in front of him. His lights were all off, making the small glow of the fire before him that much more prominent. He placed the tea light into his bowl of instant ramen and just watched for a second as it floated in the broth._

 _A small, sad smile made its way onto his face as he softly began to sing a familiar tune, "Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear Naruto. Happy birthday to me."_

 _He scrunched his eyes in concentration as he whispered his wish, "Don't let them find me this year." With that, he blew out the candle._

 _Suddenly, Naruto was startled out of his seat and landed with a thud on the floor as a loud banging rattled his front door. His eyes widened in terror as he heard the screaming curses coming from behind the wooden frame. It looked like his wish wouldn't be coming true this year either._

 _The young boy got to his feet and ran into his room, quickly locking the door behind him. His eyes searched his room for a hiding place when he spotted the window. He ran over and cautiously peeked out, scanning the street below. Seeing that it was clear, he scurried out the window as fast as he could and proceeded to descend the fire escape._

 _If I can just make it to Ji-ji's office, then I'll be safe, he thought as he rounded the corner. The thought quickly evaporated as he ran directly into someone, causing him to, once again, land on his rear on the ground. Naruto slowly looked up, seeing sandals, knee-length shorts, a sleeveless shirt, then the face. The guy in front of him was probably in his mid-twenties, as were the other three behind him. The young man glared down at him, "Aren't you that Uzumaki brat?"_

 _Cold dread started filling Naruto's veins. He knew what was coming, "Please, not today," he begged in a soft voice, uncharacteristic of his usual personality, "You can do it a different day, but please, it's my birthday."_

 _The older boy sneered, "Did you hear that guys, the little monster wants to celebrate today."_

 _The two boys and one girl behind him all scoffed in distaste. The one that Naruto had bumped into glared at the boy still on the ground, "This is the death anniversary of the Fourth Hokage and many other innocent villagers, and you want to celebrate." He spit on the ground in between Naruto's feet. Naruto looked briefly at the glob on the ground then looked up in time to see the smirk forming on the older boy's lips. He lifted his head up slightly and called out, "Hey everybody, I found him! He's over here!"_

 _Naruto's eyes widened as he quickly scrambled to his feet, tripping over himself a few times due to him rushing, and bolted away from his would-be attackers. He could hear them loudly counting down behind him, "Three, two, one, get him!" They made it a game. Naruto felt one tear trail down his cheek in fear as he rushed as fast as his six-year-old legs could carry him._

 _Unfortunately it wasn't fast enough. In under two minutes, he felt his legs swiped out from under him as his chin made contact with the dirt road of one of the alleys behind the apartment complexes. He felt himself bite through his tongue on impact and the strong coppery taste of blood filled his mouth. He quickly spat it out before he felt a sudden impact on his stomach, the breath being instantly forced from his lungs. Less than a second later, a blow hit his head, causing him to feel light-headed. He guarded his head with his arms as best he could while blow after blow rained down on him. It turned out that the people that had been at his front door earlier had joined the group that he had run into just moments ago._

 _Naruto almost thought that he would pass out_ a _fter fifteen minutes of getting the shit kicked out of him when his assailants slowly started to leave. The last one that left was the boy he had accidently run into. He gave him one last sneer, "That'll teach you to celebrate today, you revolting piece of trash."_

 _Naruto feigned unconsciousness until he knew that he was completely alone and that they weren't coming back. He blearily opened his one good eye and pushed himself up with his left hand. His right eye was swollen shut and his right arm felt broken, along with a few ribs. He shuffled home, tears silently making their way down his whiskered cheeks._

 _The climb up the stairs took a great deal of effort and a few quick breaks to catch his breath. He finally made it to his door and saw that it had been broken down again. He made his way inside and saw that the damage wasn't as extensive this year. They probably heard the shout and left his apartment in favor of beating him up._

 _He walked over to his bedroom and struggled with pulling the key out of his pant pocket. Now he regretted locking his room. He finally made it to his bed and collapsed on the old mattress. Sobs racked his small body as he repeated over and over, "I won't celebrate any more, I promise. So please no more, no more. I won't celebrate." And with that, he finally slipped into unconsciousness._

 **…**

Ino reared back from the images, a tear escaping her eye. She knew that boy! He was her neighbor Takeshi! He always treated her like a cousin or little sister. He didn't seem like he was capable of such blatant cruelty. But that…that…memory! She had passed by at least half of those people on a daily basis around town. She was disgusted. Naruto had only been a little kid. Naruto. Why?

She glanced over to the doorway that led back out into that cavern. Was it because he had that giant fox in him? That made some sense. The Bijuu was terrifying. But…Naruto…He's always so kind…He was just the loser goofball from her graduating class! That memory had to have been a mistake of some kind!

She wearily looked back at the brain. It couldn't be any worse than that right? Curiosity too much for the nosy kunoichi to handle, she replaced her palm onto the image of the brain.

 **…**

 _Sixteen year old Naruto sat at his favorite restaurant in all of Konoha, no, in all of the world! Ichiraku Ramen! It was only about a week after the attack from Pein and the city was slowly being rebuilt. Of course, Naruto HAD to help make sure that this place was one of the first ones repaired. People had to eat right?_

 _As he was slurping down his meal, he heard the flap behind him opening and a small excited gasp coming from whoever had just entered._

" _Hey, you're him right?" asked the one of guys behind him. Naruto looked over his shoulder and saw that the two guys were speaking to him. He slurped up the noodle that was dangling out of his mouth. "Huh?"_

" _You're Uzumaki Naruto, aren't you? The one that beat the Akatsuki and saved everyone?" the second one asked, excitement evident in his voice. After a hesitant nod from the blonde Jinchuuriki, the slightly older boy suddenly shoved a piece of paper under Naruto's nose, "Can I have your autograph please?"_

 _Naruto saw a different memory superimposed over top of the two guys in front of him. A younger version of the two._

"Hey, you're him right?" askedthe one boy.

"Huh?" asked a confused eight year old Naruto. The two older boys had found him on the swing just outside of the Academy. It was a little later in the afternoon, so everyone had already gone home. He didn't bother rushing home. Why would he? No one was waiting there for him.

"You're Uzumaki Naruto, aren't you? The one that the whole village calls a demon?" the second one asked, loathing evident in his voice.

Naruto sighed. He knew what was coming. He knew it would hurt. He knew he couldn't do a thing about it. The boys took his sigh as confirmation and Naruto braced himself as they charged him.

 _The faces that were twisted in sick satisfaction morphed into the slightly older faces of the two enthusiastic young men before him, their lips turned up into nervous smiles. It was the same two guys as back then._

" _My autograph?" he asked, just to make sure he had heard correctly. At their eager nods, Naruto hesitantly took the paper in front of him, "O-ok."_

" _Yes!"_

 _Naruto signed the paper and handed it back to them. As they walked away, Naruto only had one thought, "I guess they forgot."_

 **…**

"What the hell!? Why didn't you punch them in the fucking face! Honestly, I don't ever think I'm going to understand your logic Naruto," Ino said as if Naruto were standing right there in front of her, "Seriously? You get the shit beat out of you and you meet them a few years later and give them your _autograph_?"

Ino shook her head in incredulity at his forgiving personality. There was no way that she would have been that nice.

She glanced at the brain one more time. That last one wasn't too bad. Not great, but not as bad as the first one. She wondered what the worst thing he experienced had been. As she thought that, she momentarily forgot that her hand was still on the image of his brain. She was suddenly pulled into another memory.

 **…**

 _This had to have been the longest day of his life! Iruka-sensei had just given him his headband. He was officially a ninja! And now, thanks to Mizuki, he also knew why the village seemed to all hate him._

 _He touched his stomach. There was a fox demon, the Kyuubi, inside him. After getting his headband and making sure that ANBU had taken care of the unconscious Mizuki, Naruto had a long talk with the Third. He explained why he hadn't been told in the first place and about the fox itself and some…side effects of having it sealed in him._

 _But man was he exhausted! He had been up all night learning the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, then he used a lot of his chakra to beat Mizuki into the ground, and then he had to spend the rest of the next day listening to Ji-ji talking about the blasted fox. Sure it was mostly interesting and all…but he was tired! Naruto couldn't wait to crawl into bed and just sleep!_

 _He was now about two blocks from his apartment, blearily shuffling his way home, eyes straining to remain open and only half succeeding. He felt himself accidently bump into someone and wearily opened his eyes enough to look at the man. It was an older man, probably in his early forties, and he had a glare that made some of Naruto's worst tormentors seem like gentle kittens wanting to play._

 _However, Naruto being as tired as he was, merely bowed slightly and muttered out an apology. He then turned and walked the last two blocks to his apartment._

 _When he got to his building, he sighed in mild defeat as he half-heartedly glared at the stairs…he lived on the third floor. It took him much longer than usual to make it up what he now called the stairway of death._

 _He fumbled in his pockets for his keys and finally managed to get it into the lock. As he heard the lovely click indicating his return home, he also felt a large hand firmly and painfully placed on his right shoulder._

 _Shocked, Naruto looked up and stared into the face of the man he had just bumped into a few minutes before. He still maintained his glare, and if possible, it seemed to get more intense._

" _Can I help you Yamura-san?" Naruto asked the older man, trying to keep the quiver from his voice. He knew this man. He owned the local sweets shop. Naruto was run out of there a few times and knew not to try to go back in. Every once in a while though, he was able to bribe someone else to go in for him to get some candy. Yamura-san was always nice to anyone that wasn't Naruto._

 _Instead of answering, the older man forcefully shoved Naruto into his small one-room apartment. He landed with a hard thud on his shoulder, already feeling the bruise start to form. Naruto heard the lock click again, and this time it wasn't such a pleasant sound. The young Genin looked up to see the imposing man standing in front of him. Before he could make a sound, he felt a sharp kick connect with his side, sending him halfway across the floor and breaking one of his ribs._

" _You want to do something for me, you little piece of shit? How about you bring back the family that you stole from me?" he said through gritted teeth, punctuating it with another kick._

 _Naruto took a second to catch his breath. "What do you mean?" he gasped out, "I didn't hurt your fami- Oof!"_

 _Another kick cut him off as Yamura seethed, "You killed them! My wife and child. My daughter was only ten!" Naruto let out a short yelp as he was pulled up by his hair, now smelling the sake on Yamura's breath, "Why do you get to live when they couldn't?"_

 _Naruto felt the sting on his cheek as the older man punched him, sending him to the floor again. Naruto didn't even bother to move as he felt the blows raining down on him. He was too tired to defend himself. On top of that, he was use to this kind of treatment. He had been on the receiving end for as long as he could remember. While the initial blows hurt like hell, the ones after that started to have a numbing effect. Naruto also knew that he was a quick healer. Most of the wounds he sustained would be gone come morning. Now he knew why. It seemed like that fox healed him at a faster rate than most people would be able to normally. Naruto laughed sadly. At least having the Bijuu sealed in him had some perks._

 _Unfortunately for Naruto, the slightly inebriated man above him misinterpreted his soft laughter, "You think that's funny!? Are you some kind of masochist you twisted little fuck?"_

 _Naruto's eyes widened slightly at the crazed tint that the man's voice had taken on. This wasn't good. He didn't know what was going to happen, but a crazed mad man was always worse than just a mad man._

" _If pain doesn't do anything to you…than how about humiliation?" Yamura asked in an almost sweet tone. It made a cold sweat start to form on Naruto's forehead._

 _The next thing he knew, Naruto was stripped of his pants and boxers. He didn't even see the man do it! Now he was scared. This had never happened before. Was the guy going to castrate him or something?_

 _With that thought in mind, Naruto skootched backwards with his hands and feet, trying to put as much distance between them as possible. Before he could get very far, he felt an iron-like vice grip on one of his ankles as he was dragged back and turned onto his stomach._

" _Try laughing at this you fucking demon."_

 _Before Naruto could comprehend what was happening, he felt an excruciating amount of pain, so different from what he was used to, originating from his backside. At some point during his panic, Yamura had removed his clothes as well and was now inside of him. A gut-wrenching scream made its way out of Naruto's throat that was quickly muffled by a piece of cloth being forceful shoved into his mouth._

 _Yamura cackled wickedly as he pumped in and out of Naruto's now bloodied bottom._

" _What's wrong little demon? Can't handle it?" he gave a particularly rough thrust, causing another round of screams to come from the young blonde. "I noticed that you have a hitai-ate. They actually made a little fucker like you a ninja? How pathetic. You can't even defend yourself from a civilian! Come on, show me what you can do."_

 _A demented smile made its way onto Yamura's face, "You want to kill me right? A demon child like yourself, of course you would. Go ahead, kill me." The man taunted, his smile becoming more twisted as time went on, "Oh, wait, I'm a citizen of this village. Which means that you have to_ protect _me!" His laughter echoed and harmonized with Naruto's screams as Yamura continued to pound into him._

 _Naruto's throat felt raw. He couldn't remember ever feeling so much pain. After ten minutes of the torture filled with taunts and curses, Naruto finally started to feel numb. At that moment, Yamura released himself inside of Naruto with a grunt. The older man then wiped himself off with one of Naruto's discarded articles of clothing and redressed._

 _He made his way to the front door and looked back at the prone boy one the floor with disgust, "Just die already." And with that, he left._

 _Naruto laid there for several more minutes, his vacant eyes staring into nothingness. When he tried to get his limbs to respond, he felt the ache pierce through his body. He moved through the pain and slowly removed the makeshift gag from his mouth, absently noting that it was his own underwear. He gritted his teeth and dragged himself up off the floor and into his shower to wash off the blood and…other fluids. After a shower that was hot enough to blister the skin, he dazedly made his way to his bed and collapsed. As the tears flowed from his eyes in a never-ending stream, Naruto tried to go to sleep. "I have to go meet my new team tomorrow," he whispered brokenly through his quiet sobs._

 **…**

Ino was forced from Naruto's head, the shock too great. As she came back into her own body, she could hear a heart-wrenching scream of terror and anguish. It took her a second to realize that it was coming from her. She had collapsed to her knees and was screaming with every fiber of her being. Only about a minute had passed in the real world, but it felt as if she had just gone through a lifetime of torture, and in a way she had.

Shikamaru and Sakura immediately stopped their sparring match and looked in horror at her. They quickly rushed over. By the time Sakura had made it to her side, Ino was retching up what little food she had in her stomach from that morning.

"Ino! What's wrong? What happened?" asked Sakura as she ran a green glowing hand over the blonde, trying to assess the damage that could have put her rival into such a state.

Shikamaru looked from his teammate to the other blonde that was a few feet away, just starting to become aware of his surroundings after the jutsu. "Naruto, what did you do to Ino?" he asked in an accusatory voice.

Naruto blinked a few times, then focused on the Yamanaka that was now hugging herself while rocking back and forth. He nervously scratched the back of his head. "It looks like she saw something she shouldn't have," he said simply.

Shikamaru scrunched up his face in confusion as he looked back to his teammate.

At the sound of Naruto's voice, Ino's head snapped up. She stared at him with impossibly wide eyes. "Why are you still alive?" she asked in barely a whisper.

The training grounds grew quiet at her seemingly violent statement. Naruto's posture changed from laid back to cautious in an instant, a small frown marring his face.

"Do you want me to die, too?" he asked, resignation rather than accusation filling his voice, a sad look hidden behind his eyes.

Ino wordlessly shook her head. She tried to get to her feet, stumbling slightly, but was caught and supported by Shikamaru and Sakura. They were both highly confused as to what was transpiring right then. As Ino tried to step towards the Jinchuuriki, the other two solidified their hold on the mind-walker, stopping her from doing something reckless. Ino quickly shook them off and stumbled forward until she was standing right in front of Naruto. He didn't move and just waited. She leaned into him and grabbed his jacket, burying her face in his chest and shaking her head back and forth. He stiffened slightly from the contact, but didn't try to remove her.

" _How_ are you still alive? How can you smile? How could you save a village like ours instead of just destroying it? How!?" she asked, tears running down her cheeks.

Naruto stiffened more as she spoke, "Ino…what did you see?"

Ino continued to shake her head, her face still in his jacket. He pulled her away from himself and held her at arms-length, forcing her to look at him.

" _What_ did you see!?" he asked with urgency, a crease forming between his brows.

Ino replied in a whisper so that Naruto was the only one that could hear her, "Your sixth birthday, those guys that wanted your autograph and…"

She drifted off, not wanting to say the last part, not wanting to acknowledge its existence, let alone that she had witnessed it. Naruto saw her hesitation, dread growing in the pit of his stomach, "And what?"

She looked away from him, her voice barely audible, "The night after you graduated."

The change in Naruto was instantaneous. His eyes were round from disbelief, fear concealed just beneath the surface. When Ino glanced up at him, she gasped when she saw them change from blue to a deep, blood red. When she blinked, they were back to normal. Before she could sigh in relief, she felt an enormous pressure. Naruto wasn't suppressing his chakra anymore. It started to whip around them, making the grass and trees sway as if a strong gust of wind had suddenly picked up. It was making it hard for her to breath. The sheer weight of it was suffocating! If he didn't have a grip on her shoulders, she wasn't sure if she could even stand in the presence of this much power! The two shinobi behind them were barely keeping upright themselves, shocked at Naruto's unrestrained power.

It lasted only a few moments before he realized what was happening and reined it in. He gripped her arms in a slightly tighter, but not uncomfortable, hold. "Never repeat what you saw Yamanaka Ino. If you do, I swear that you will regret it," he growled out in a low voice.

"Naruto!" shouted Sakura, aghast at the deliberate threat. Her protest was ignored by the blondes.

"Promise me Ino," Naruto said firmly.

Ino couldn't do more than nod her head obediently, too overcome by the magnitude of the moment to do anything else.

At her nod, Naruto released her and turned to his teammate, "Sorry, Sakura-chan, I'm going to go clear my head. I'll see you later." And with that, he disappeared, leaving the other three shinobi at a loss for words. Ino made her way over to her things and gathered them up before quietly leaving herself. She needed to clear her head, too.

 **…**

Ino had made her way into the shopping district of Konoha. She hadn't bought anything, but it was a nice distraction. She had been aimlessly walking around for almost four hours. She should probably be heading home soon.

"Good evening Ino-chan," came a kindly voice to her left. Ino looked over and had to force back the look of disgust that wanted to make itself present on her face. She wanted to yell, she wanted to scream curses at this horrible excuse for a man. She wanted to make him bleed and hear his mangled cries echo through the whole of Konoha for the atrocities that he had committed. Instead, she used all her kunoichi training and produced a small smile, hoping that it would look tired rather then forced.

"Good evening Yamura-san, how have you been?"

"Oh, the same as ever. I feel as though I have sugar running through my veins from being surrounded by all that candy," he chuckled a bit at his longtime joke with her. When she didn't respond with the usual 'maybe that's why you're always so sweet' that she had started when she was just a child, he looked up and noticed that she was lost in thought. He looked at her for a few moments when she heard him whisper, "You look so much like my late wife."

Grasping at a way to distract herself from the many ways she could kill him and have no one the wiser for it, she latched onto this string of conversation. He never talked about his family, and still being her, she had an innate need to know as much about people as she could. "What was she like?"

The older man smiled gently, causing Ino to both gag inwardly at how natural he seemed and at the same time, start to doubt her earlier revelations about this man. Could he really have been the monster of those nightmares?

"She was about your height, loved wearing her hair long, and always had a slight mischievous glint to her smile, like she knew all your secrets," he laugh quietly under his breath as he was lost to his memories, "She even had blonde hair and blue eyes, though a bit different than yours."

"Different how?"

"Your color is softer. Hers was more vibrant! Her eyes were the brightest sapphire blue that I had ever seen and her hair was like sunshine."

Ino tried picturing it and one face suddenly popped into her mind, her heart plummeting slightly. "Naruto." He had bright blue eyes and hair like sunshine and his smile practically screamed mischief.

The man's face before her suddenly lost the serenity of his memories and gained a scowl that would rival her childhood crush. "What did you say?"

She didn't even realize that she had said the name out loud, "Sorry, I just thought about one of my comrades. He somewhat fits that description as well," she said, trying to smile despite her tongue's sudden lapse in reliability.

His eyes shadowed and he no longer looked like the caring man she had known all her life. Now he resembled the nightmare. "Never say that _thing's_ name around me again," he spat out with venom, "How dare you compare _it_ to Haruka."

"Thing? It?" Ino stared in disbelief, she felt some of her tightly concealed anger start to slip, "Naruto is a person, for your information!"

"That _monster_ is nothing of the sort. It's the reason I lost my family all those years ago."

She was momentarily stupefied by the blatant hatred coming from this man.

"That _person_ is a ninja of Konoha and one of my friends!"

"Then you should choose your friends more carefully, dear. He's dangerous."

"So am I," she said through gritted teeth, "So is every ninja that lives and breathes in this city! We all have the potential to be dangerous to the people here, but like Naruto, we have chosen to defend it instead."

Yamura scoffed, "That monster is the reason countless people died."

"Naruto's the one that is sealing the monster to _keep_ countless others safe! And you, you small-minded bigot, are one of the ones that he's protecting!"

"Oh, the thing is protecting me? Well, it should just die while on one of its missions, then I woud feel safe."

Ino saw red. The last bit of resolve that she possessed to keep her temper in check snapped. She drew back her fist and slammed it forward, hoping to knock the older man into next week. She never got the pleasure. Her hand was caught mere inches from his suddenly terrified face. When she looked to see who had stopped her from delivering sweet justice, her breath caught.

"Naruto?"

He gave her an unreadable look as she slowly lowered her hand. His face had a strange neutrality as he glanced at Yamura, who was still in shock. The young Jinchuuriki straightened and addressed her in a rather monotone voice, "Ino, the Hokage wants to see us about our next mission. I'll escort you there."

Ino looked at him in disbelief. He was being too natural and too formal. It was a strange combination that was so out of place with the usually hyperactive blonde. He turned to the older man and bowed slightly, "I'm sorry to cut your conversation with Yamanaka-san off, but we must be going. Goodnight."

With that, Naruto grabbed Ino's arm and dragged her away before she could protest.

 **…**

"Naruto, where are you taking me?" Ino asked as they passed through another backroad. Most of the civilians never came back this way and the few who would were most likely on their way home by now, "The Hokage just gave me the rest of the week off, so I know she doesn't-"

"What did you think you were doing?" he said, anger clearly visible in his features.

"What was I doing," she murmured. She shook her arm out of his grasp then spoke louder, "What was I doing!? That was him wasn't it? I recognize him from your memories! He was the one who-"

"Who what?" he yelled, interrupting her mid-rant, "Can you really say it out loud? I sure as hell can't! I don't even want to remember it!"

She paused and could literally feel the anger leaving her body.

"You weren't even supposed to see those memories. You had no right to go snooping through my head!"

He stopped himself from continuing and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to compose himself. Naruto looked at her after a brief moment with a stern gaze, "He is just the old man that owns the sweets shop down the road. He was the one that always gave you a free piece of candy whenever you came into his store, wasn't he?"

"How did you-"

"I may have been labeled as an idiot, but I was more observant then most people gave me credit for. I had to be to survive."

He paused a moment but saw that she wasn't going to comment, "Now, was he not the one that always treated you kindly and gave you free candy?"

Ino nodded slowly.

"Then that's what he is. Treat him like you always have. What you saw in my head as a dream. A really bad dream that I pushed into the corners of my mind. It never really happened," Naruto stated, his voice catching a bit at the end. Seeing her about to protest he looked at her firmly.

"It was just a dream. Say it."

"I-it was too real to be a dream," Ino said hesitantly, still in shock, "There was no way someone that young could think like that! Not to where it manifested itself into a dream in the first place. Not unless something like that actually happened." She argued. Ino looked down at the ground and clenched her fists. How could he ask her to just pretend like she didn't know!?

"Please."

Her head snapped up. His voice was almost hoarse from the repressed emotions. Never had she heard him sound so desperate before in the many years that she had known him. He was the number one hyperactive, knucklehead ninja. He was always so happy and strong. Now she knew that that was just a front. An act so that no one would see just how broken he was. Now he looked at her with tears barely suppressed in his eyes, "Please, say it."

"I-it was just a dream," she said in barely more than a whisper, hard-pressed to let the words escape her lips. How could she pretend not to know? How could she deny him the request to let himself forget? She felt almost numb.

He nodded stiffly, showing that he heard her, then turned and walked away. She stood there in the alleyway motionless for a few minutes longer before the first sob made its way out of her mouth. Soon, the tears were cascading down her cheeks as she slumped to her knees and just cried for the boy that no one truly knew. He even denied himself the closure that the truth would bring.

She didn't know how long she stayed there and cried, but when she finally composed herself, she noticed that the streetlamps had long since been lit. She wiped the lingering tears and slowly started making her way home, her arm seeming to tingle from where he had grabbed her to drag her away from her nearly violent fit. Now that she thought about it, even with of the underlying fury that Naruto was holding at the time, she realized that while his grip was firm, he made sure it wasn't to the point where it would hurt her. She gave a sad chuckle. Even when he was angry, he was still so gentle. And it wasn't until today that she truly saw just how far his kindness went.

 **And there we have it! Sorry for the cliff-hanger ending, but this just seemed like a good stopping point. This was my first one-shot, and no, there won't be any updates. I hope you…enjoyed?(...I think that's the right word, though considering the semi-gruesome content I'm not sure) this fanfic! Please review so I know what your thoughts and feelings are regarding it!**


	2. Behind The Smile: Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

 **Behind The Smile Chapter 2**

As a single parent, Yamanaka Inoichi knew the many wonders and tragedies that come with raising a girl. And having a whirlwind as a daughter didn't temper the ride in any way. He had seen her gain, fight, and make up with friends. He had seen her heartbroken over losers that thought they were good enough for his little girl. He had seen her work her way through the triumphs and failures that come with being a shinobi. He had seen her master many of their family techniques. He had seen her come home in a daze after her first kill.

Yamanaka Inoichi knew his daughter as well as any parent could know their child. Him being a member for the T&I Division and her being a chatterbox had made knowing her that much easier.

So when he came home late from work, nearly three in the morning, imagine his confusion to seeing his only daughter sitting on their couch in the dark hugging her knees to her chest. THIS was an Ino he wasn't familiar with. When she was heartbroken, she would binge-eat ice cream then complain how it was going to make her fat. When she was angry, she would rant and scream until the issue was resolved or she beat the poor bastard into the ground. When she was melancholy, she would take an extra-long soak in the tub and then read cheesy romance novels until the sun came up. Never in the sixteen years of raising her had Inoichi seen his daughter sitting in a fetal position with tears silently running down her cheeks, not saying a word and merely staring off into space.

"Ino, what happened?" he asked as he dropped his things on the ground and went to sit beside her.

Nothing. It looked as if she hadn't even heard him. Now he was worried.

"Ino," he gently turned her head to look at him. He gasped lightly as he saw the dead look in her eyes. She seemed…broken.

"What happened, Ino?"

She seemed to barely register that he was there now, a look of recognition flashing in her dazed gaze. She opened her mouth slightly only to close it with a snap. She shook her head as much as she could with his hand still keeping her facing him.

"Ino-"

"It wasn't real."

"What?" Inoichi was confused. Real?

"I shouldn't have looked." Her dazed look turned to slight panic mixed with grief as her voice slowly rose in pitch, "I shouldn't have looked! I had no right! Why did I look? Why!?"

Instant comprehension filled him. "Ino, who's mind did you enter? What did you see?"

"I shouldn't have looked. So much pain. But it wasn't real. It can't be real." She no longer seemed to remember that he was sitting right next to her. His worry was quickly escalating. There were many drawbacks to their jutsu. They could gain vast knowledge from entering another's mind, but sometimes it came with a drastic cost. It could feel as though you lived the other person's life, good or bad. It took a lot of training and mental restraint in order to compartmentalize the baggage that you gain from another's memories.

"Monsters. All of them. I'm surrounded by monsters. I thought they were nice. How could he see them as human?

"Ino, please, sweetheart. Who is he? What did you see?"

"Oh, Kami," a look of horror etched itself onto her face, "I was one of them! I never helped! I said all those things! I never knew!" She just shook her head, clenching it in both hands as she pulled out of his grip. "He said it wasn't real. It's not real. I shouldn't have looked. I shouldn't have looked." She kept repeating that same phrase. He couldn't get her to respond or move. This was bad. At this rate, her mind was going to break.

He made a kage bunshin and had it stay with her to make sure that she wouldn't do anything drastic. He quickly made his way back out of the house as fast as he could. He knew that she had seen Sakura for a sparring match earlier that day. And he was going to find out what exactly happened to his little girl.

 **…**

Naruto ran a hand down his face as he failed to ignore the incessant pounding on his front door. He heaved a sigh and forced himself from his bed. In all honesty, he had hoped that they would just go away if he ignored them long enough. Obviously that didn't work. All well, he hadn't been able to fall asleep anyway. Today was just one hell of a roller coaster.

Opening the door, he came face to face with Yamanaka Inoichi. He wasn't really all too surprised to see him. He should have known that Ino wouldn't be able to keep what happened to herself. Sighing again he stepped away from the doorway and motioned for the older man to come in.

"I guess Ino told you." Naruto said in a rare monotone, arms folded as he leaned against the now-closed front door.

"No, actually. That's why I'm here."

Naruto raised a brow at the vague answer.

"I asked Sakura what happened during your training session today. She seemed just as confused as I am. What happened, Uzumaki?"

Naruto huffed a bit and sat down on his chair, motioning for the older man to take a seat on the couch.

"I'll tell you what I told her teammate, she saw something that she shouldn't have."

Inoichi pursed his lips in agitated thought. "You don't need to tell me the details Uzumaki, but you _will_ give me a vague idea as to what my daughter saw."

Naruto straightened a bit in his seat, "She really didn't tell you?"

Inoichi paused before sighing and slouching in defeat into the couch, "Her mind is breaking," he glanced at the boy across from him, "Whatever she saw is making her lose herself. That's why I'm here. I need your help."

"Breaking? What do you mean her mind's breaking?"

"She's starting to go into hysteria. If I can't pinpoint the trigger or have her somehow re-stabilize herself with the real world, she could have a psychotic break."

Naruto's face took on a serious edge as he contemplated how to phrase it without giving too much of what happened away, "You know what I am, Yamanaka-san. You know how Jinchuuriki are treated. Hell, you broke up one of the mobs before when I was a kid."

Inoichi's eyebrows rose at that.

Naruto scoffed a bit, "Don't give me that look. Of course I remember that. You stopped them. Back then, I remembered anyone that showed any form of kindness."

Inoichi nodded in acceptance, "So she saw some of how you were treated as a kid then?"

Naruto nodded and looked away, "Is that all?"

Inoichi hesitated briefly, "Now that I know about what happened, I'll need your help even more."

"With what exactly?"

"…as I stated earlier, Ino's mind is starting to become unstable. She keeps saying that she shouldn't have looked and that she's surrounded by monsters," Inoichi paused to gauge the boy's reaction, "I need you to talk with her."

"And what could I possibly say?"

"Try to get her to focus on something else. I would do it, but I'm not sure exactly what she saw. And going through her memories myself right now would possibly just do more damage. Plus, I don't think you want me seeing whatever it was she saw as well."

Naruto nodded slowly. That wouldn't be good. One person knowing was bad enough.

"Fine, let me get changed first."

Inoichi gave a small grateful smile, "Thank you."

 **…**

Less than ten minutes later, Naruto found himself standing in the Yamanaka's living room. Upon arrival, Inoichi dispersed his clone and made himself scarce, saying that he would be back in an hour. Naruto looked down to see Ino on the couch, her hands grasping fistfuls of her long hair and streams of tears trickling down her cheeks. In all the years that he had known her, he had never seen her this unkempt. It was…odd. And quite disconcerting.

Ino was always brash and bold. To see her like this…now he knew why her dad was worried.

With a sigh, he crouched in front of her and looked her in the eyes, "Ino. What are you doing? I told you to forget what happened, not obsess to the point of breaking."

Ino's eyes came to life at the sound of his voice. Now it looked as if she were looking at him rather than through him.

"Naruto?"

He nodded and opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a blur of blonde launching at him, knocking him down onto the floor. Mildly disoriented, he looked down a bit to see Ino hugging him.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto. I'm so sorry! I started thinking about what horrible human beings those people were, and then I realized that I was one of those people and that I said terrible things to you for _years_ and I realize now that I was wrong and that I was only following what everyone else was doing and I just thought it was ok at the time cause _everyone_ couldn't be wrong but they were and and and…"

"Breathe Ino! Breathe! Geez, you talk a lot." Naruto said, trying to get a smile, or hell, even an angry rant or fist upside the head. Something other than tears.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then looked him in the eye, "I'm sorry. Is there any way you can forgive me?"

Naruto gave a lopsided grin, "I never thought you needed to be forgiven for anything Ino. You're my friend. I couldn't be mad at you for something like some teasing as kids."

She huffed out a semblance of a laugh and extracted herself from the somewhat awkward hug, leaning back so that her back was against the couch, "How do you do that?" At the confused look she elaborated, "How can you smile like that? It looks so genuine. No one suspected that it was just a mask."

Naruto's grin became a self-deprecating smile as he looked down at the carpet between them, rubbing the back of his head in a nervous habit, "It was more for my own sanity then anything. If I smiled big enough, long enough, eventually even _I_ wouldstart to believe that I wasn't hurting. Eventually, I could forget and just be as clueless as others perceived me. But," Naruto paused and looked at Ino. She was leaning forward ever so slightly, completely focused on what he was saying.

"But…what?" she asked in an almost whisper.

A small yet genuine smile crossed his face, "But…after a while, I stopped having to fake the smiles as often. Little by little, I gained people precious to me that _made_ those smiles come naturally."

Naruto reached out and gently rubbed away some of her tears with his thumb, "You are one of those people Ino. You don't need to be sorry for anything because you and so many others helped me feel human." He retracted his hand and watched as Ino straightened.

She rubbed the last remnants of liquid from her face and started to giggle, "Man, I must look like shit right now."

"Yeah, you kind of do."

Ino gasped in fake indignation and playfully shoved the other blond as both started to chuckle lightly. As the laughter died down, Ino shifted slightly to get more comfortable.

"…I'm never going to be able to look at those people the same way, am I?"

"…Probably not. But Ino, you can't act any differently. Having others ask questions about it wouldn't be good."

"Yeah," she whispered, "I know. I'm still surprised that you're such a good actor."

Naruto chuckled a bit, "I guess you're right. I am pretty good aren't I?"

"Naruto…you know…now that I know more about the real you…if you want…maybe we can get together sometime?"

Naruto looked at her skeptically, "Are you…asking me out?"

"What!? No! Not that there's anything wrong with you, but you're really not my type."

Naruto, relieved at her admission, grinned lightheartedly, "I don't know…you do seem to go for the guys with darker pasts."

Ino waved her hand to dismiss that thought pattern, "Try dark hair and eyes. Something about that really draws me in."

"So, like Sai then?" he stated, enjoying teasing her for once.

Ino's face lit up with a blush as she quickly changed the subject back to her previous train of thought, "What I meant earlier was that we could hang out, as friends. And if you ever needed to talk to someone, I'm a good listener. I swear on my honor as a kunoichi that whatever you tell me won't become public knowledge."

Naruto nodded as he stood, holding his hand out to help her up as well, "I'd like that. Thank you Ino."

A spark of mischief entered her eyes as she started to examine him a bit, putting him instantly on edge.

"What?"

"You know, speaking of asking someone out, I could probably help you with your love life a bit. Give some dating advice and whatnot."

Naruto relaxed and put his hands behind his head, "You do know that I don't have feelings for Sakura-chan anymore right?"

"Oh, I wasn't talking about Forehead," the devious gleam became stronger as the statement threw him off a bit.

"What?" he squeaked out.

"What do you think of Hinata?"

The instantaneous blush darkening his features could have rivaled the Hyuuga heiress herself.

Pausing outside the front door with his hand on the doorknob, Inoichi smiled to himself as he heard laughter coming from inside. It seemed his little girl was going to be ok. The father turned around and decided to let the two finish whatever discussion they were having. Now that she was out of danger, Inoichi was just glad to see his daughter gain a new friend.

 **Well, I ended up making this a two-shot. It really is ending here this time lol. I never intended for Ino and Naruto to become a couple formed through tragedy, just close friends. So I'm sorry for those that shipped the two of them together. I hope that the second chapter lived up to the first! Please let me know what you think! Thank you for reading :D**


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